Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful exploration into the depths of the criminal mind
Review: This book is a true masterpiece. It's a wonderful trip into the criminal mind. It doesn't spare a thought, it includes everything that the killer is feeling before he commits the crime, after he commits the crime, and while he's committing the crime. It's filled with his conflicting feelings of pride and regret. It displays the theme that someone can't get away with such a terrible crime because there is no escape from their own mind. Raskolnikov could never escape the constant repulsion at himself, and the repulsion of the loved ones around him who knew of his deadly sin.There were some things, though, that put a damper on the reading. I felt like a lot was lost in the translation. While reading I noticed quite a few grammatical errors, and I don't know if that's how it is with most editions of this book, or if it was only mine. It was distracting at times to have to put up with the errors, but it didn't take too much from the book. Once I looked past the errors, I found it an extremely interesting book that is definitely worth investing some time into.
Rating:
Summary: A must for all who are really interested in a masterpiece
Review: Hundred and even kilometers of ink have been spread around articles, conferences and deep essays around the world about that monumental work.
However, there's an aspect that I'd rather to remark. It's well known the deep impact that the russian literature of the XIX century shocked all the world. The presence of Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoi and this giant Fedor Dostoievsvki signed and even made grow up the russian character to a peak that literally surpased all the expectatives.
In my opinion, Crime and Punishment establishes one of the starting point of the existencialist movement years after. Let's consider, by example that Albert Camus' brilliant work named "The happy death" , and clearly you'll feel in the ten first pages the presence of the fate struggling all the performers. Mersault is in fact a far descendent of the mean character in Crime.
A ruman writer (Virgil Gheorghiou) told once in one of his works that amazing thought:"The sin hurts much more in the memory than in the flesh" .
And this is the clue to understand the sense of loss, the feeling of desperation, the loneliness in all its crude nakedness, the shame weights much more in his mind that in the rules that his crime implies. In the case of Mersault in Camus'work, the victim follows what you might consider like a suggested homicide . In other words the fear to commit suicide seems to permeate the atmosphere in all the work.
Dostoievski makes us drowning with all these characters in an ocean of deep implications, there's no doubt in the punishement; but Dostoievski makes a moral crossroad and carries by the dark shadows of this hell so particularly russian. Consider , by example the paintings of Blockin, the sense of horror in the most remarkable symphonies of Shostakovich, the sinister phantoms of Rachmaninov in his Symphonic dances. The religion, the fact you can't ignore . all the political opression all along so many centuries, have created a human being very special in the western tradition. And all these sociological aspects that depicts a soul , the sense of nosthalgia that so well defined oncethe celebrated filmaker Andrei Tarkovski (1932-1986), when he was forced to leave URSS in 1979 whe he showed his work Stalker. Remeber that his following issue was titled Nosthalghia ( and this is not a mere casuality).
When you read this book, consider you are reading more than book, you are getting close to the soul and the fears of the russian people. May be you (like me) are able to understand deeper than any essay the essential facets of this nation, his glory and his disgraces.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotionally exhausting
Review: When a book has a visceral effect on the reader, the author must be doing something right. My father complained of actually feeling sick while reading this, and I had a similiar reaction. There is a pervasive darkness here which is little to do with Raskalnikov's crime and punishment and everything to do with the grime and general despair of St. Petersburg. You can almost breath the coal dust in the air; physical and moral squalor taint everything. Even the supposedly good characters live in a state of degredation, and poverty is everwhere. Given this, the pure moral which Dostoevsky seems to try to draw out of it seems a bit ridiculous, and is the main flaw of the book in my eyes. He tries in the last stretch to uplift, but he's shown us too much squalor to make it believable. This book is a bit of a chore to read, I found, given its length and unremitting tone, and while it's clearly the work of a master author, I don't reccomend it unconditonally.
Rating:
Summary: A book for those who like crime stories.
Review: Crime and Punishment is an interesting novel in which the psyche of a murderer is explored. The beginning of the book is a seesaw inside the murderer's, Raskolnikov, head, between whether or not to commit the crime. The supposed insanity of this leads Raskolnikov to the house where he kills the woman. After the murder, the guilt of the crime is eating at Raskolnikov and even makes him sick. Amongst all of this Raskolnikov has deal with his sister's engagement to a man he does not feel she should marry. The agony of his problems ends with his decisions at the end of the book.
This book at times is very slow, but is probably purposely written that way to show what Raskolnikov is going through. The time that is dwelt on a decision making process may bore the reader and may require a break. It strays away from the murder and gets a little into love and other everyday problems. Like most Russian novels there are numerous names that may confuse the reader. There are so many characters that some seem like they do not even need to be mentioned but everyone plays a role in this book. In order to keep track of everything that is going on pay close attention to names or the book may not make complete sense.
When it gets to the more interesting parts of the story the book shows its true colors. The reader then understands why he or she just read thirty pages of basically nothing but words. It becomes intensively descriptive, so much that it may be disturbing to some. But the descriptions and the boring parts play into the author's efforts to truly illustrate the mental process of a murderer. Raskolnikov's mind is thoroughly explored and the author seems to have the skill of putting the reader into his shoes. All in all the book gets really slow at times, but the good parts of book out weigh this and make it a pretty good book.
Rating: 
Summary: I must have missed something
Review: Hmm, I don't know, I must have missed something while reading this book because I really didn't get much out of it...I'm really disappointed considering how it's supposed to be such a great novel. It gets off to a good start; the first 100 pages were by far the best. It was interesting to study Raskolnikov as he planned and (poorly) executed his crime. But once the deed was done, the book became a mess of confusing characters, muddled philosophical discussions and unrealistic behavior.
When I say "confusing characters" I mean that literally; some of the characters were hard to tell apart and it didn't help that their Russian names all ran together (not to mention the fact that each character has like 4 nicknames). I frequently had to stop and ask myself "Wait, who's talking? And what role do they play in the story again?"
The characters were also confusing in the sense that I just didn't understand their motivations, or the motivations seemed contrived and unrealistic. Raskolnikov pretty much explains his motive by the end of the novel, and it's a fairly interesting motive, but it isn't explored in enough depth to be really fascinating. A lot of his actions throughout the novel seem completely unmotivated. People have said that he's such a "real human" character, but his main traits seem to be indecision, self-hatred and self-pity. Sure, real people act this way but it doesn't make me like them either.
SO, long story short, the middle section of the novel has some good scenes, like the cat-and-mouse conversations between Raskolnikov and Porfiry, but much of it was dull and hard to get through. I didn't care much for Sonya's character either; she didn't have much of a personality outside of her endless self-sacrifice.
The novel gets more interesting again towards the end. A new character becomes prominent, Svidrigaylov. He's pretty unscrupulous but at least he knows what he wants and you can understand what he's talking about. Several dramatic developments near the end of the novel got me turning the pages, but the ending was again a disappointment. [SPOILER: When I got to the sentence where "Dunya pulled a revolver out of her purse" or whatever, I burst out laughing. It seemed so out of place, yet it was one of the few times in the book where I was enthralled by the story.]
As I said, maybe I just missed something, or maybe as another reviewer suggested, it had something to do with the translation, but Crime and Punishment felt like a chore to read.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: I have read this book and I think its very good and a must read for everybody. It has everything, philosophy, character development, a rich language, and a very interesting story.
The writer explores the psychology of a criminal mind, his feeling, the way he thinks and how later he repents about the crime.
Raskolnikov a very poor law student away from school for financial reasons decides to commit a crime. Dostoyevsky does a very good job in developing his caracter. In the beggining Raskolnikov thinks that in the world are two kind of people. The ordinary people and the extraordinary. The latest are the kind of people that have the "right" to commit crimes in order to walk forward, grow in ther career or do something that is very good for the society, like Napoleon etc. The ordinary people dont have the right to commit crimes they are under the law. He thinks that commiting this crime will serve to the society, but later on as the story goes we see Raskolnikov change. This by several factors, his love for Sonia, his mother and Sister.
We see some other characters in the novels that aren't criminals like Luzhin but we dont have any sympathy for them.
In the end Raskolnikov change his mind, He starts to understand that he was not "Napoleon" or extraordinary and in order to be releaved and start a new life he needs to be "Punished".
Very good book I would suggest everybody to read it.
Rating:
Summary: A long book you wish were longer!
Review: I'll admit I had to read this for school but I ended up loving it in a way I'd never imagined! For its length, it's actually very fast moving, with most of the action/dialogue taking place within a few days. The characters are amazing and moved me to deep feelings of pity, understanding, hatred or concern. The imagery was also uniquely fascinating and will certainly remain with me for a long time to come. This book had an atmosphere that was almost tangible. Dostoyevsky and his host of characters with names a unpronounceable as his own have definitely made an impact on me. I heartily encourage you to give Crime and Punishment a trial of your own!
Rating:
Summary: Crime and Punishment
Review: "Crime and Punishment" was my introduction to Dostoevsky, and a pleasant introduction it was. This is a very brilliant work from a master storyteller, and I can't recommend it enough. Dostoevsky's use of psychology, philosophy, and detective work all come together to take this tale to a higher level, and beneath the madness and the ideology emerges a tale that is both dark and extremely enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Solid
Review: I don't really have much to say about this book other than the fact that it was "good." It's a classic and that says a lot about the nature of the writing, which most people try to avoid. It isn't nearly as hefty as people may think and the story is a great. It combines crime and madness with salvation and love, making it a true piece of literature worthy of such acclaim.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest single novel of all time!
Review: I tend to enjoy epic tales myself (lord of the rings, the dark tower, the chronicles of Thomas Covenant, etc.)--you know, something with a little meat on it. Usually, a single novel is just too short and leaves me wanting for more. Crime and Punishment, however, is a masterfully well plotted story that feels like an epic without wading through pages of superfluous content. It is heartfelt and alive, taking you on an emotional ride that will leave you questioning morality, passion and justice. You will never think of crime or punishment in the same way again.
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